If preliminary results are any indication, it looks as though former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim has secured a spot in the November runoff for the post of California insurance commissioner, while a favorite of the real estate industry will not be advancing.
Kim led the field with about 24 percent of the vote, as of Wednesday morning.
The second spot in the runoff is too close to call, with state Sen. Ben Allen pulling in about 19 percent of the vote. Stacy Korsgaden — who owns her own insurance brokerage in San Luis Obispo County — was at 17.5 percent.
The race for insurance commissioner doesn’t typically command attention but the 2025 fires in Los Angeles added emphasis on the statewide position. The deadly Palisades and Eaton fires, which burned through thousands of structures, simultaneously blew up California’s insurance market, leading to what has been dubbed a “statewide crisis.” The current campaign has been marked by concerns over the cost — and, in some cases, the availability of homeowners insurance.
Kim received close to $30,000 in contributions from industry players, based on a review of campaign finance data from the California Secretary of State. Donors include Wayne Jordan of Oakland-based Jordan Real Estate Investments, Lawrence Lui of Cresleigh Management and an associate from nonprofit developer EAH Housing. Endorsed by Bernie Sanders, Kim ran her campaign on penalizing insurance carriers for delayed payments, holding bad actors accountable and the notion of single-payer statewide disaster insurance policies.
Allen — whose Westside senate district includes Pacific Palisades — could join Kim in the runoff if he maintains his No. 2 rank. While the number of Allen’s real estate donations tops Kim’s, his dollar amount falls quite short, having raised close to $12,000 from the industry. Notable donors include brokers from Sotheby’s, the Beverly Hills Estates and CBRE, Ardie Tavangarian of Arya Group, Shana Tavangarian, an agent at Carolwood Estates, and Thomas Safran of Thomas Safran & Associates. Risk reduction for fire-prone homes and decreasing the state’s reliance on the FAIR Plan were pillars of his campaign.
“We can’t go out and demand the insurance industry cover all these high risk areas without us putting in the investment and really starting to shift focus on risk reduction,” Allen said in a March debate hosted in Pacific Palisades.
Korsgaden is narrowly trailing Allen and could make a comeback as more votes are counted. The Republican saw significant campaign contributions from the insurance sector. Between agents, brokers and insurance business owners, Korsgaden raised close to $67,000 from the insurance industry, nearly 17 percent of which came from donors affiliated with Farmers Insurance — which announced last month its intent to raise its prices in the fall. Money from Farmers alone exceeded the roughly $7,400 she brought in from the real estate industry.
Patrick Wolff, a candidate who raised a significant amount of money from a roster of real estate industry executives, appeared to be out of the running. Wolff, a financial analyst who previously established Capital One’s auto and home insurance brokerage, outraised his counterparts when it came to real estate-related contributions, securing close to $43,000 from the sector. His donors included Kilroy Realty’s Mike Grisso, Jonathan Shum of Related California, Jeffrey Moeller of Lee & Associates, brokers and agents from CBRE, Compass and Sotheby’s, and Kacy Keys of Praxis Development Group.
Wolff, nonetheless, appears set to finish in the middle of the 11-candidate race, with around 7 percent of the vote.
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